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"Smart and Smarter" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons' fifteenth season. The episode aired on February 22, 2004.

Synopsis

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The family, after visiting a pancake house, visits Mrs. Wickerbottom's Pre-Nursery School, where Apu and Manjula are sending two of their octuplets. Homer and Marge have a talk with Dr. Hibbert about getting in, and decide to have Maggie go in. However, Maggie fails the initial screening because she cannot talk, until Lisa discovers some traits of intelligence. Homer and Marge make another screening. The results show that not only is Maggie brilliant, but her IQ of 167 is higher than Lisa's IQ of 159. Lisa is no longer considered "the smart one" of the Simpson family. Her attempts to find a new identity, including a goth named Ravencrow Neversmiles, a cheerleader, a rapper, a soccer player, a cowgirl, and even a stand-up comedian, do not work out well.

At home, Lisa teaches Maggie false information. Homer and Marge denounce her for trying to sabotage her sister's education. She leaves the house and hides in the Natural History Museum, where there is no chance of Homer and Marge finding her, until Chief Wiggum, Lou and Eddie find her in there. While they are there, Homer, Marge, and Bart are trapped in a model of the human body, and only Maggie can save them. Ironically, after Maggie saves Homer, Marge, and Bart, she no longer has a secret to her intelligence - it turns out Lisa was subconsciously showing her answers.

Trivia

• When Marge walks inside the room angry at Lisa for purposely teaching Maggie the wrong words, along with the whole entire deck of cards she drops in surprise, two of them actually show the words on them, one spelling "Cat" (as seen before), and one spelling "Beer".
• The "You are Lisa Simpson" paper Marge gives Lisa references the episode Lisa's Substitute

Cultural references

• The revelation at the end may refer to the now-famous case of Clever Hans, the amazing "thinking" horse who became a celebrity until a famous psychologist revealed he was bogus.
• There is a small sequence in this episode which is a parody of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
• The title is a reference to Dumb & Dumber, a comedy film starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels.
• When they're reviewing the tape there is a reference to the ESPER machine from Blade Runner. The ESPER machine is a voice-commanded device used to manipulate photographs.
• Henry, voiced by Simon Cowell, is an obvious parody of Cowell's role on American Idol.

Quotes

• Boy: The pig says "oink". The chicken says...
  Henry: Look, stop right there. I can go to any Chuck E. Cheese in America and hear what animals say. You know what I say? I say "next"!
  (Mother picks up boy and walks away)
  Boy: You're a poopie!
  Henry: Do you nurse with that mouth?
• Lisa: But my IQ is only 159. Maggie's smarter than me?
  Henry: That's right. Because 167 is a bigger number than 159. You see how that works?
• (Lisa tries to be a stand-up comedian) Lisa: Stuffed cabbage? Can you believe they found a way to make cabbage worse? So... why do they call them field trips? We never go to a field!
  Skinner: Not true! Last week we went to a battlefield!
  Ralph: I'm bembarrassed for you!
  Nelson: The following "Ha Ha" is not from amusement, but an expression of contempt. HA HA!
• Milhouse:What are you now, Lisa? An Oakland Raiders fan?
  Lisa: It's called goth, eternally clueless one. My new name is Ravencrow Neversmiles.
  Milhouse: Cool. We could be goth together. We could go to the cemetery and summon the Dark Lord by kissing and junk.
  Lisa: Okay... but first you must apprentice by kissing the goddess, Ironica, uh..., who lives in this rock. Do it for an hour, hour and a half.
  Milhouse: Yes, my mistress.
• Lisa: I'm a mess. I can't believe I'm jealous of a baby!
  Bart: I'm jealous of her, too! When you're a baby, you can just spend all day rolling around on the floor. (sigh) I miss that.
  Nelson: Fine! Roll around on the floor, baby!
  (Bart walks to the middle of the bus and rolls on the floor)
  Nelson: Floor Baby! Floor Baby!
  Lisa: You're making fun of him for something you made him do!
  Nelson: Yeah, well.. you're gay!
  Lisa: People who accuse others of being gay are often covering up their own latent homosexuality.
  (Nelson panics and opens the emergency exit. He rolls and then gets back up)
  Nelson: BULLIES RULE!
• (Maggie professionally plays Lisa's saxophone)
  Lisa: (takes the saxophone away) Not for babies.
• Homer: Look at this dealy the school sent over. His name is PhonicsFrog.
  (Homer presses A, B, and C)
  PhonicsFrog: Ah-Buh-Cuh...
  (Homer types his name)
  Hu-o-muh-eh-er.
  Homer: That's me! Hu-o-muh-eh-er! (He types something on PhonicsFrog)
  PhonicsFrog: This is Hu-o-muh-eh-er's doc-tor. He's too sick to work today.
• Homer (with the PhonicsFrog, attempting discipline Lisa): I agree with your mother, you are a disappointment to Hu-o-muh-eh-er!
• (Homer is in bed, asleep and holding PhonicsFrog, pressing Z after he snores.)
  Homer: (snores)
  PhonicsFrog: Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z.
  Homer: (snores)
  PhonicsFrog: Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z.
• Chief Wiggum: Now this may not be the best time, but I'm supposed to give you this survey rating the effectiveness of the Springfield Police Department.
  (Marge starts filling the survey sheet)
  Chief Wiggum: "Somewhat satisfied"? I see. Well, maybe I'll just "somewhat" find your daughter. Huh?
  Marge: Fine, extremely satisfied!
  Chief Wiggum: Looking good, boys! Now let's go get some smoothies.

• The Simpsons episodes, season 15